en-us http://www.intensedebate.com/users/500068 Comments by TheOtherAndrewB http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhanlon/2011/03/18/red-riding-hood-review-stay-away/#IDComment136087996 This same idea was done years ago--and done right, in my opinion--in a weird, sexy, twisted film called "The Company of Wolves". You haven't lived until you've seen Angela Lansbury's severed head in a pail of milk, and realized that maybe the wolf isn't really the bad guy... Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:01:14 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhanlon/2011/03/18/red-riding-hood-review-stay-away/#IDComment136087996 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2010/12/02/amazon-removing-wikileaks-from-their-servers-is-not-censorship/#IDComment113541504 Yes, I'm glad that Amazon did the right thing. Alas, doing the right thing because you fear the repercussions is not the same as doing what is right because it is right. I contacted Amazon on Wednesday morning to cancel my account. They made their choice and I made mine. Not censorship, freedom of choice. Fri, 3 Dec 2010 13:47:22 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2010/12/02/amazon-removing-wikileaks-from-their-servers-is-not-censorship/#IDComment113541504 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/11/23/charles-bronson-kills-hipsters-rated-pg-mildly-nsfw/#IDComment111656364 "Hard Times" is probably my favorite Bronson film. The atmosphere, the supporting cast (they finally found the perfect venue for Strother Martin's squirrely persona) and the fight scenes. And Bronson himself...he looks like he could split wood with his mind. One role that nobody else here has mentioned is another one I love. It was his least-likely performance, as Francis Pharcellus Church in "Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus", a TV movie from the 90's. It is a subdued, melancholy role (I wonder if it was after his beloved Jill died), but he does a good job. And just to see the all-time reigning Hollywood tough guy named "Francis" is worth it. Although, as I recall, everyone calls him Frank. Wed, 24 Nov 2010 10:35:32 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/11/23/charles-bronson-kills-hipsters-rated-pg-mildly-nsfw/#IDComment111656364 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/awrhawkins/2010/11/11/veterans-day-saving-private-ryan-reminds-us-of-heroes-and-the-cost-of-liberty/#IDComment109463804 "Saving Private Ryan" is one of the great "almost...but" films of all time. Spielberg had the budget, the uniforms and the equipment to make the greatest war film of all time, then he hacked it up. The basic problem is this: Spielberg took groundbreaking effects and graphic realism, then grafted them onto all the hackneyed cliches of a thousand other films. The squad portrayed is supposed to be composed of U.S. Army Rangers, self-selected for the toughest missions, but they are actually a group of misfit schlubs. They squabble, they disobey, they make stupid decisions that cost lives. What they are, of course, is the usual assortment of "types" that every WW1 and WW2 film had--the streetwise Jew, the tough Italian, the Country Boy, the scrappy Mick. It is "The Fighting 69th" without the charm or the patriotism. Almost...but. Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:47:32 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/awrhawkins/2010/11/11/veterans-day-saving-private-ryan-reminds-us-of-heroes-and-the-cost-of-liberty/#IDComment109463804 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2010/11/02/video-tales-from-the-sanity-rally-hamm-crowder-zo/#IDComment107662870 I don't believe in polygamy, but--if it ever comes to pass--I want to ask my wife if Mary Katherine Ham can be our plural spouse. Smart as a whip, cute as a bug and snide as Hell. What a woman! Wed, 3 Nov 2010 21:34:40 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2010/11/02/video-tales-from-the-sanity-rally-hamm-crowder-zo/#IDComment107662870 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2010/10/31/top-5-reasons-zombies-reign-as-horrordoms-1-monsters/#IDComment107048330 An interesting article, but I don't know that I totally agree that zombies have avoided the "Twilight" effect. I believe that the Godfather himself, George Romero, jumped that particular shark in "Land of the Dead." The ending of that film, which I believe approaches "Plan 9 From Outer Space" territory, portrays the reanimated, rotting corpses as another misunderstood grievance group with a legimate beef against mankind. Give Romero another few films and he will have America become a peaceful Zombie Utopia, once all the dreadful conservatives have been eaten. Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:48:59 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2010/10/31/top-5-reasons-zombies-reign-as-horrordoms-1-monsters/#IDComment107048330 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/10/27/top-25-greatest-halloween-films-5-the-george-romero-zombie-quadrilogy-19682005/#IDComment106537951 Sorry John, you lost me. "Land of the Dead" suffers from Romero's political fixations and never recovers. It is not simply that he takes the easy way out at the expense of reason, plot and common sense (Hopper's character carrying around a case of greenbacks in a post apocalyptic world? Why not collectible Hummel figurines?) No, he allows his "message" about...uh...stuff to destroy everything that came before. We had spent almost 40 years seeing his zombies as relentless killing machines, creatures out of our darkest nightmares. Now--WHAMMO--they are just misunderstood folks with a legitimate beef against the living. Stupid, weak and worthless. Romero wanted to make his point (whatever it was) and he didn't care if it was coherent. Well, he certainly succeeded in that. Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:55:53 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/10/27/top-25-greatest-halloween-films-5-the-george-romero-zombie-quadrilogy-19682005/#IDComment106537951 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dgifford/2010/10/10/watch-for-crazy-christian-sucker-punches-in-stone/#IDComment103304510 Curse Hollywood for exposing my denomination! I am the Highest of High Church Episcopalians, but never thought that a film would give away our secrets. Sure, we look like a bunch of uptight folks, wearing suits and refusing to sing anything written after 1770, but in secret we are snake-handling, tongue-speaking, fire-n-brimstone holy rollers. Damn! Now I'll never get a parking space! Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:30:11 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dgifford/2010/10/10/watch-for-crazy-christian-sucker-punches-in-stone/#IDComment103304510 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2010/10/09/modern-hollywoods-love-affair-with-satanism/#IDComment103226741 Bram Stoker's novel is not only explicitly Christian, but specifically Catholic. My father always said that one of the defining moments of the story is when Van Helsing mentions that he has received a special dispensation to carry the Holy Eucharist with him, and reverently removes his hat when he says it. "Dracula" (the novel, not any version I have ever seen on film) is drenched with Christianity. I would like to see that version on screen. Sat, 9 Oct 2010 22:15:25 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2010/10/09/modern-hollywoods-love-affair-with-satanism/#IDComment103226741 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2010/10/05/bernard-schwartz-aka-tony-curtis-1925-2010/#IDComment102553537 I always loved Tony Curtis, although my favorite was always "The Black Shield of Falworth", which I must have watched 20 times as a kid. Now I find out that he was both a Boy Scout and a WW2 vet! Now I REALLY love that guy! Flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Tue, 5 Oct 2010 23:33:29 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2010/10/05/bernard-schwartz-aka-tony-curtis-1925-2010/#IDComment102553537 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/fdemartini/2010/09/13/the-dark-shadows-of-true-blood-lets-share-some-blood-among-friends/#IDComment98714925 I agree with the post above that called for a return to truly evil vampires. "Dracula" is a perfect example (the book, not the many, many film versions). Stoker's vampire is really, truly evil: a soulless monster who drives men insane and feeds his wives with newborn babies. He wasn't sexy or dreamy or "marginalized", except in as much as he was far from all that was good and holy. We aren't supposed to feel sorry for Dracula nor are we supposed to long for his cold embrace. We are supposed to want to see a sharp stake driven through his malevolent heart, his head struck off and his mouth stuffed with garlic. Show us THAT version of Dracula, please! Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:44:55 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/fdemartini/2010/09/13/the-dark-shadows-of-true-blood-lets-share-some-blood-among-friends/#IDComment98714925 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/fdemartini/2010/09/13/the-dark-shadows-of-true-blood-lets-share-some-blood-among-friends/#IDComment98606900 Dark Shadows made me a conservative. My brother and I loved that show, and rushed home each afternoon to watch it with our friends. In 1968, at the age of 6, my watching was interrupted so that my mother could drag me to a candlelight vigil to end the Vietnam War. As a first grader, my understanding of geopolitical reality was somewhat vague, but I knew that my dad was a veteran of both WW2 and Korea, and he wasn't going to sing "Kumbaya" and hold a candle. I cried incessantly, but my mother dragged me (literally) away from Dark Shadows and off to the rally. All I remember were lots of cameras taking my picture, since a wailing child fit their narrative. They never knew that I wasn't crying for the poor Indochinese, but because I wouldn't get to find out what happened to Angelique... Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:13:09 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/fdemartini/2010/09/13/the-dark-shadows-of-true-blood-lets-share-some-blood-among-friends/#IDComment98606900 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2010/06/10/lady-gaga-the-empress-of-blase/#IDComment79514288 Lady Gaga's work has all the exciting spontaneity of a lunar launch. Doe she have some kind of checklist? Bondage? Check! Nazis? Check! Blasphemy? Check! Didn't we see all this about a lifetime ago, when Madonna at least had the advantage of being somewhat new? Lady Gaga is the Elvis impersonator of her genre, not that it really needed one. Where's the jumpsuit and the fried banana sandwiches? Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:39:21 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2010/06/10/lady-gaga-the-empress-of-blase/#IDComment79514288 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/06/09/todays-open-thread-21/#IDComment79286905 First saw "Bonnie and Clyde" when I was about 12, and obsessed with all things gangster-related. I loved it. Watched it again about 30 years later and hated it. I could'nt wait for these two preening, narcissistic thugs to get mowed down. That is certainly not what the director intended, but I guess it is what happens after we gain a bit of real world experience. Cop-murdering thugs just don't seem as winsome and charming when we are a bit older and more jaded. Wed, 9 Jun 2010 12:00:22 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/06/09/todays-open-thread-21/#IDComment79286905 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/05/28/trailer-the-mighty-george-romeros-survival-of-the-dead-opens-today/#IDComment77555579 Amen, brother! I would have to say that, even including the Ed Wood genre, Land of the Dead is the worst film I have ever seen. George Romero spent 40 years and four films showing us that zombies were horrifying, unstoppable killing machines...then he discovered, in the last 5 minutes of his film, that they were just misunderstood. What? In trying to advance his (somewhat fuzzy) liberal agenda, George Romero threw his life's work in the toilet. Well, there it will remain. Fri, 28 May 2010 22:12:39 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/05/28/trailer-the-mighty-george-romeros-survival-of-the-dead-opens-today/#IDComment77555579 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/05/23/the-empire-strikes-back-turns-30-do-they-make-em-like-that-anymore/#IDComment76799610 I turned 18 in 1980, and it was a rare Friday night that did not find me at the movies with friends. I was known to get out of one movie and, if time allowed, rush to the next town to see another film. I remember the moment when it began to change, and it was the first sight of the Ewoks. This was especially painful when I found out that, as originally written, the action was supposed to happen on the home planet of the Wookies. Now wouldn't THAT have been a scene, with giant, super-strong yetis tearing the limbs off of stormtroopers? It was then that I realized that film-makers viewed the audience as cattle. We will sit and contentedly chew our cud regardless of what was on the screen, and they rake in a few extra dollars from Happy Meal and plush toy tie-ins. Well, the advent of VCRs, cable TV and Blockbuster neatly coincided with my waning interest in Hollywood. My weekly movie attendance has now dropped to such infrequent visits that I cannot name the last film I saw in the theater. And it all began with Ewoks... Sun, 23 May 2010 15:48:41 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/05/23/the-empire-strikes-back-turns-30-do-they-make-em-like-that-anymore/#IDComment76799610 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/05/16/todays-open-thread-9/#IDComment75697374 One of the truly great films from Hollywood's greatest era. I grew up wanting to be one of the Merry Men, most of all because I was transfixed by the beauty of Olivia de Havilland. She spends the entire film in what is practically a burka (although a rather clingy one), and yet she captivated my young mind. What a woman, what a cast and what a movie! And just think--she managed to be brave, strong, beautiful and fascinating, yet never felt the need to pretend to be a man. Who would think such a thing could happen? Sun, 16 May 2010 19:04:52 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/05/16/todays-open-thread-9/#IDComment75697374 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/05/14/review-ridley-scotts-robin-hood-is-plain-ole-boring/#IDComment75592741 Life is too short to bother with this sort of film. I have decided, after sitting through too many already, that I will never again pay good money to see a film where the female star is a completely, ridiculously anachronistic Spunky Proto-Feminist. That means I don't see many adventure films. Sorry, but a spindly thing like Cate Blanchett (or, more egregiously, the micro-waif Keira Knightley) butchering legions of beefy men is too stupid to endure. I was raised by a genuine butt-kicking, hard-drinking, chain-smoking mother who was far more to be feared than my father (a veteran of two wars). I have nothing but respect for what a determined woman can do. Still, it is just ridiculous that directors feel the need to take these tiny, scrawny women and make them epic killers. Is is some sort of turn-on for men, I wonder? Not for me. No, I will keep Errol Flynn, Alan Hale, Basil Rathbone and (my first and most enduring crush) Olivia de Haviland. Sat, 15 May 2010 20:59:12 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/05/14/review-ridley-scotts-robin-hood-is-plain-ole-boring/#IDComment75592741 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2010/04/07/forever-hanoi-jane/#IDComment66475470 Very few were hanged (the Lincoln conspirators and Wirz, the commander of Andersonville, are the only ones that spring to mind), but about 300,000 died by other means. I think that was enough to get the point across. Wed, 7 Apr 2010 22:42:04 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2010/04/07/forever-hanoi-jane/#IDComment66475470 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2010/04/07/forever-hanoi-jane/#IDComment66451975 Let me see how these two events are similar... OK, I tried, but couldn't think of a single similarity. Instead, how about we try this: Suppose that, in 1914, a famous British entertainer had travelled to Germany, made some wireless broadcasts for the Kaiser, had her photo taken pretending to fire high explosive shells at the British troops with a gigantic idiotic grin, then returned to London. She would have been put against a wall and shot. There, I fixed your historical allusion at no extra cost! Wed, 7 Apr 2010 19:56:44 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2010/04/07/forever-hanoi-jane/#IDComment66451975